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Columbia Missourian

Ex-federal prosecutor sentenced for sex crimes

By The Associated Press
November 8, 2008 | 4:18 p.m. CST

CLAYTON — A former federal prosecutor received a 65-year sentence for sex crimes involving teenage boys.

A St. Louis County jury convicted 47-year-old Eric Tolen last month on 36 counts of statutory sodomy for engaging in sex with teenage boys between 1995 and 2007. The former assistant U.S. attorney was also found guilty of one count of tampering with a witness, who was one of the teens.

Tolen was sentenced Friday.

Prosecutors said Tolen asked boys to do odd jobs around his home or property and would later ask them to perform sex acts with him in exchange for gifts.

Tolen was fired as a federal prosecutor in 1999. He's scheduled for trial next month over an Illinois woman's claims that a collection of South African Krugerrand coins seized from Tolen's home actually belongs to her.